Fun News & Updates, Garage Door Adventures, Easy Crab Meals, New Winter Chicken Fount

Fun News & Updates-

As for news, you may have noticed this blog layout has been changed and rearranged. I saw some things I found annoying and thought it could be better! I have added another sidebar on the left, since the one on the right was WAY too long. Hopefully things are arranged so it's easier to find various sections now. I may eventually add more pages at the top, but that's too labor intensive for me right now. Juggling working full time and blogging can be a challenge at time. Since I work on a computer all day at work, the ideas of hours online on a work night isn't that appealing. At some point my eyes just need a rest! I also updated my blog header with some newer different photos. I tried to use a good cross section of shots. Hope you like the changes!

I have recently joined the Homestead Bloggers Network and I'm looking forward to learning new things from more seasoned bloggers! It's amazing that I've been blogging about 6 years! How time flies! Six years ago I don't think there was a whole lot of bloggers networking. I's nice to see that now. 

I've been invited by the Meridian Public Library Mld.org/unbound to present a how-to-blog class Tuesday, Jan. 16th. I'm really excited! They reached out to me as a local blogger. Meridian is just outside Boise, and a large city. It's going to be lived streamed on their Facebook page Facebook.com/mldunbound I'm a little nervous live streaming a class (what could possibly go wrong?) but it's a great opportunity! I'm pumped!

Garage Door Adventures-

I really appreciate having an attached garage, and an overhead door with an opener. Just push a button in the car and presto, open door! After our overhead garage door had been squeaking really badly for a few months they've decided to buy some lubricants to fix it. The squeaking is gone thanks to this kind of DIY product Pro Garage Door Lubricant. Overhead garage doors need to be lubed once in a while, as well as balanced . They have a giant spring that needs to be serviced by a professional over time. Ours lasted 15 years, pretty average as far as I know-

We hired the company that put the replacement spring last year to come back and check out why it didn't stay balanced. A balanced door is easy to raise up and down manually if you lose power or your motorized opener fails-

Emergency pull, lift the balanced door easily

Short version- they put in the wrong sized spring last year, and didn't offer to fix it for free. So... we'll go back to the other company we've used and get it fixed correctly. Good example of poor customer service. If you don't do the job right the first time admit, then fix it.

Easy Crab Meals-
Once in a while I just want some crab! Maybe it's missing the Oregon coast? I bought a big can (16 oz?) of all crab claw meat for about $12.00, a lot I know. Since I buy it once about once I year I can live with it! I made the (top photo) crab salad with the following- 6 oz. of crab claw meat, tossed with a Costco kale salad mix with poppy seed dressing. Served with hot french bread, fabulous!

The next dish I did last night was a version of this- San Francisco Crab Melt Sandwich I used whole grain bread (Dave's Killer my fave), no onions (out), added a Tsp of Worcestershire sauce, and used Swiss Cheese. Also fab! Both recipes are easy and fast on a work night. Nice for something different.

New Winter Chicken Fount-
After several years our heated dog water bowl finally died this week. With temps in the 20's at night the bowl was starting to ice over. I'm happy Dave did a hard wire job in the coop for this and the lights, much safer! We decided to get an enclosed water fount, helps to keep the dirt out. It was easy to set up, plug in and walk away! Now the girls have much cleaner water. Apparently research says that poultry will actually drink more water in the winter when it's heated. It's three gallons and this is what we bought locally at a feed store. Girls are slurping down as we speak, and I always add a little Bragg's organic cider vinegar to the water-